Abuja, 04 November, 2016- Experts and partners are in Abuja to access the response by countries in the Lake Chad Basin to the wild polio virus outbreak in north east Nigeria. Since August 2016, Nigeria has recorded four wild poliovirus (WPV) cases in Gwoza, Jere and Monguno local government areas (LGAs) of Borno state, Nigeria.

Following the outbreak, Ministers of Health from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, during the 66th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the African Region, declared the polio outbreak in Nigeria as a public health emergency for countries of the Lake Chad basin.

Opening the assessment meeting, Dr Emmanuel Odu, the acting Executive Director of the National Primary Agency (NPHCDA) who represented the Honorable Minister of Health reminded all delegates that “the declaration calls on Nigeria and all countries of the Lake Chad Basin, as a matter of the utmost urgency, to fully implement coordinated outbreak responses in order to quickly interrupt the outbreak before the end of 2016 and prevent international spread”.

He assured all participants of Nigeria’s unwavering position to contain the geographic spread with the highest level of political support as exhibited by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in the provision of all the necessary logistics, including military support to address the country’s peculiar insurgency. He consequently urged delegates to appreciate Nigeria’s unusual situation during the assessment to proffer solutions to rapidly boost immunity of eligible children in recently liberated areas.

Speaking on behalf of partners, Dr Rex Mpazanje, acting WHO Country Representative noted that the re-emergence of wild polio virus cases in Nigeria in August 2016 in north eastern Nigeria, after a silent period of close to two years, demonstrates “a need for sustained vigilance across all countries in the continued fight against polio till certification.” He also added that “the complex security and humanitarian emergency environment in the north east of

Nigeria has called for innovative approaches and widening of traditional partnerships.

I use this opportunity to acknowledge ongoing innovations that the government continues to lead aimed at increasing accessibility to vaccination and to delivery of other lifesaving interventions in partnership with the military in areas with security challenges”. Dr Mpazanje added.
The acting WR however requested respective countries not to lose sight of significant progress in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) of bringing down cases WPV) from 350,000 cases in 1988 to 74 cases by 2015 thereby recording over 99% decline, and more so for Nigeria where the number of cases were reduced from 750 cases in 2008 to 0 in 2015.

The success has been due to concerted and coordinated efforts of governments, GPEI partners, traditional and religious leaders. Therefore, Dr Mpazanje added that the global programme and the Nigerian one in particular are presently in a better position to maximize on wealth of their intangible experiences and expertise to better address the outbreak in the north east and broader Lake Chad basin in order to eradicate polio.

He stated that WHO and other GPEI partners remain firmly committed to support the governments of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Central Africa Republic to stop polio once and for all in Africa and the world at large.

An overview of the response in the Lake Chad basin at the meeting noted that the remaining challenges are localized in areas with: insecurity; competing outbreaks and emergency; weak health systems and logistic challenges for transportation and in countries that are not prioritizing polio after being WPV-free for many years.

The 2-day meeting (4-5 November, 2016) includes representatives from government from the five countries and partners: WHO, UNICEF, BMGF, CORE Group, CDC, Rotary international and USAID, and representatives from the Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) and Central Africa Technical Advisory Group (TAG).

Expected outcomes at the end of the deliberations will include revised country work plans to ensure high quality of response activities, identification of all requirements and resources to strengthen coordination and response quality, and clearly defined recommendations to strengthen coordination across the Lake Chad basin countries to mitigate further spread.

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For more information, please contact:

Technical contact:
Dr Fiona Braka; Tel: +234 703 170 5252; Email: brakaf [at] who.int (brakaf[at]who[dot]int)

Media contacts:
Ms  Charity Warigon; Tel: +234 810 221 0093; Email: warigonc [at] who.int (warigonc[at]who[dot]int)
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01 Group photo of participants at the Lake Chad Basin review

02 (L-R Dr Emmanuel Odu, Dr Rex Mapazanjer and Dr Michel Zaffran (WHOs  Director of Polio)

03 Nigerian and Camerounian delegates at the review